150 Academicians from 26 Countries Discuss on Middle East

“Middle Eastern Congress on Politics and Society” organized by SAU Social Sciences Institute has started. The congress, in which ‘Arab Spring’ will be discussed in detail, is held in SAU Culture and Congress Center.

146 Proceedings to Be Presented

In the congress, which will be held between 9 and 11 October, totally 146 proceedings about social and political structure of Middle East and North Africa will be presented and ‘Arab Spring’ will be discussed in detail. Many participants from 26 countries including some Arab countries like Sudan, Egypt and Tunisia have attended meeting.

The opening speech was given by the Foreign Minister of Turkey, Ahmet Davutoğlu via video conference connection and the keynote speech was delivered by Prof. Dr. Norman Finkelstein who is known with his anti –zionism ideas in the USA.

The speakers were Prof. Dr. Udo Steinbach, Prof. Dr. Mohammed Ayoob from Michigan State University and Prof. Dr. Berch Berberoğlu from Nevada University in the opening panel titled as ‘The Middle East and Arab Awakening in World Politics’, of which Prof. Dr. Ahmet Uysal from Eskişehir Osmangazi University was the moderator.

Turkey Cannot Remain Indifferent to Syria Issue

Prof. Dr. Mohammed Ayoob said “Turkey cannot stay away from Syria since its geographical position does not allow this. The situation there will affect Turkey in any way.”

Prof. Dr. Udo Steinbach said “I called the event of Arab Spring as Arab rebellion. I divide this situation into three in historical process. In order to understand the Arab Spring today, we need to look back on history. The first rebellion, between 1918 and 1920, was unsuccessful. The second one, between 1950 and 1960, was against to Europe countries, but it was also unsuccessful. And this is the third one. 20th century becomes a revolution century for Arab Spring.”

Desire for Change

Reminding that the Arab Spring started with Tunisian activist’s burning himself and the reaction of public, Prof. Dr. Berch Berberoğlu said that before the protests, variety of political structures in Arab countries reflected on the reaction of the government.

Middle Eastern Congress on Politics and Society will last 3 days with 33 panels including some major topics on political and social issues.10/10/2012 – AB